D.C. Circuit to Rehear Obamacare Challenge

Steven D. Schwinn, John Marshall Law School

The full D.C. Circuit today agreed to rehear Halbig v. Burwell, in which a three-judge panel of the court previously struck the IRS rule that offers tax credits to purchasers of health insurance on a federally operated exchange who meet certain income requirements.  Today's order also vacates that earlier ruling.  It means that the full, en banc D.C. Circuit will get a bite at the apple, and that the earlier panel ruling is wiped from the books.  The court will hear arguments on December 17.

Recall that the earlier panel ruling striking the tax credit was in direct conflict with a Fourth Circuit ruling the same day upholding the tax credit.  Today's order also removes that circuit split.

We last posted on the case, with background explanation, here.  In short, the case involves an IRS rule that extends tax credits to purchasers of health insurance on a federally operated exchange.  Opponents of the rule argue that the plain text of the ACA limits credits to purchasers on a state-operated exchange.  The government argues that the broader text of the ACA and its purposes show that the credit applies to purchasers on both state and federal exchanges. 

A ruling striking the credits for purchasers on a federal exchange would deal a major blow to the Affordable Care Act and its goal of universal coverage, and could put lower-income purchasers in a pinch.  That's because purchasers in states that declined to establish their own exchanges (and thus triggered the federal government to establish a federal exchange) wouldn't qualify for a credit, and may not be able to afford insurance without it, yet would still be required to purchase it.  An amendment to the ACA could easily solve the problem (again, if a court struck the credits for purchasers on federal exchanges), but congressional opponents of the ACA, and thus Congress, would never go for it--at least unless and until these cases are resolved in favor of the government (when the point would be moot, anyway).